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Oup Presidents 



THEIR 



POPTPAITS N^^ BIOGRAPHIES. 

EMBRACING MUCH USEFUL AND INTERESTING INFORMATICN 
CONCERNING OUR COUNTRY AND ITS HISTORY. 



Compiled by W. A. Gregg. 



LIVES OF GREAT MEN ALL REMIND US 

WE CAN MAKE OUR LIVES SUBLIME, 

AND, DEPARTING, LEAVE BEHIND US 

FOOT-PRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME. 

, .LjOriGFELLOW. 



Lincoln Publishing Company, 
cincinnati. 



THE I 8RA»v aF 
C<*NGH£ . 

Two C '•='tts Hgccivea 

APR. ^7 1902 

COKVf««HT BNTWt 

3 ^ f ^ ^ 



HPNTB-EGAIJ- & CO., 
CUrcUfNATI. 



Copyrighted by Lincoln Publishing Co., Cincinnati, 0. 



Vice-Presidents of the Vivited States. 



1— JOHN ADAMS. Born 1735. Died 1826. 

2— THOMAS JEFFERSON. Born 1743. Died 182G. 

3— AARON BURR. Born 1756. Died 1836. 

4— GEORGE CLINTON. Born 1739. Died 1812. 

5— ELLRIDGE GERRY. Born 1744. Died 1814. 

6— DANIEL D. TOMPKINS. Born 1774. Died 1825. 

7— JOHN C. CALHOUN. Born 1782. Died 1850. 

8— MARTIN VAN BUREN. Born 1782. Died 1862. 

9— RICHARD M. JOHNSON. Bom 1780. Died 1850. 
10— JOHN TYLER. Born 1790. Died 1862. 
11— GEORGE M. DALLAS. Born 1792. Died 1864. 
12— MILLARD FILLMORE. Born 1800. Died 1874. 
13_WILLIAM R. KING. Born 1786. Died 1853. 
14— JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE. Born 1821. Died 1875. 
15— HANNIBAL HAMLIN. Born 1809. Died 1891. 
16— ANDREW JOHNSON. Born 1808. Died 1875. 
17— SCHUYLER COLFAX. Born 1823. Died 1885. 
18— HENRY WILSON. Born 1812. Died 1875. 
19— WILLIAM A. AVHEELER. Born 1819. Died 1887. 
20— CHESTER A. ARTHUR. Born 1830. Died 1886. 
21— THOMAS A. HENDRICKS. Born 1819. Died 1885. 

22— LEVI P. MORTON. Born 1824. Died 1901. 

23— ADLAI E. STEVENSON. Bom 1835. 

24— GARRET A. HOBART. Bom 1844. Died 1899. 

25— THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Born 1858. 



HOW A PRESIDENT IS ELECTED. 



On the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of 
each recurring four years, a National election is held in all the 
States. Each State elects a number of Presidential electors 
equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives 
to which the State is entitled in Congress. The electors meet 
in their respective States (usually at the capitals of the States) 
and vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of 
whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State 
as themselves. (Thus the President and Vice President can 
not be from the same State.) They name in their ballots the 
person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the per- 
son voted for as Vice President; and they make distinct lists 
of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted 
for as Vice President, and of the number of votes for each, 
which lists they sign and certify and transmit sealed to Wash- 
ington, directed to the president of the Senate. These meet- 
ings of Presidential electors are called the Electoral College. 
The president of the Senate, in the presence of the Senate and 
House of Representatives, opens all the certificates, and the 
votes are then counted. The person having the greatest num- 
ber of votes for President is declared to be elected, if such 
number be a majority of the Avhole number of electors ap- 
pointed; and if no person has such majority, then from the 
persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three on 
the list of those voted for as President, the House of Repre- 
sentatives chooses immediately, by ballot, the President, But 
in choosing the President the votes must be taken by States, 
the Representatives from each State having one vote. A quo- 
rum for this pui*pose consists of a member or members from 
two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States are 
necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives 
does not choose a President, whenever the right of choice may 
devolve on them before the 4th day of March next following, 
then the Vice President acts as President, as in the case of the 
death or other constitutional disability of the President. A 
Vice President is elected in the same manner as a President, 
except that in case no person receives a majority in the Elec- 
toral College for Vice President, a Vice President is elected by 
the Senate from the two highest numbers on the list. A quo- 
rum for the purpose must consist of two-thirds of the whole 
number of Senators, and a majority of the whole is necessary 
to a choice. 

No person is eligible to the office of President or Vice Presi- 
dent of the United States except a natural born citizen; nor 
is a person eligible for these offices who has not attained the 
age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident 
within the United States. 



ORDER. OF SUCCESSION. 



In case of the removal, death, resignation or disability of 
both President and Vice President, then the Secretary of State 
shall act as President until the disability of the President or 
Vice President is removed, or a President elected. If there 
be no Secretary of State, then the Secretary of the Treasury 
shall act, and the remainder of the order of succession shall 
be: Secretary of "War, Attorney-General, Postmaster-General, 
Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Interior. This 
act applies only to such Cabinet officers as shall have been 
appointed by the advice and consent of the Senate, and are 
eligible under the Constitution for President. 



MOST FAMOUS AMERICANS. 



On March 5. 1900, an unknown philanthropist donated to 
the city of New York .$100,000, for the purpose of building a 
''Hall of Fame," in which were to be placed tablets contain- 
ing the names of the most famous Americans. A committee 
of one hundred of the most prominent scholars, educators and 
writers were chosen to select the names. Any one was per- 
mitted to suggest a list of names to them, and they were then 
to vote on them, each name requiring fifty-one votes before it 
could be placed in the "Hall of Fame." By the terms of the 
contest no names of persons could be considered except of 
those who were born in America, and had died previous to 
1890. A list of 252 names was submitted, but only the follow- 
ing 29 received the requisite number of votes: 

George Washington. Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Abraham Lincoln. George Peabody. 

Daniel Webster. Robert E. Lee. 

Benjamin Franklin. Peter Cooper. 

Ulysses S. Grant. Eli Whitney. 

John Marshall. John G. Audibon. 

Thomas Jefferson. Horace Mann. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson. Henry Ward Beecher. 

Henry W. Longfellow. James Kent. 

Robert Fulton. Joseph Story. 

Washington Irving. John Adams. 

Jonathan Edwards. William E. Channing. 

Samuel T. B. Morse. Gilbert Stewart. 

David G. Farragut. Asa Gray. 

Henry Clay. 



.^m^ 



j^^m^Wfi-r^ 




GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

Our 1st President. 

From April 30, 1789 to March 4, 1797. 

Born at Bridges Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1732. 
pied at Mount Vernon, Va., December 14, 1797. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, the first President of the United 
States, was born February 22 (new style), 1732. His parents 
were in good circumstances, and unlilie many other great 
Americans he never liad to contend with poverty. He was an ex- 
ceedingly apt scholar and at the age of sixteen was a practical 
surveyor, and at nineteen was a Major in the Provincial Militia 
of Virginia. The teachings and example of a wise and affec- 
tionate mother was a material factor in the building of his char- 
acter. In 1755 Washington was an Aide-de-Camp to General 
Braddock, and participated in the battle— near where the city 
of Pittsburg now is— in which that General was defeated. Dur- 
ing the action Washington had two horses shot from under 
him, and four bullets passed through his clothing, but he was 
not injured. He married a wealthy widow, Mrs. ]\Iartha Cur- 
tis, and retired to Mount Vernon. In 1774 he was a delegate 
to the first Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia, 
and upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War in the 
following year, he w^as appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 
Continental Army, and during the eight succeeding years held 
that position. In 1787 he was a delegate from Virginia to the 
convention Avhich formed the National Constitution. The de- 
bates incident to the convention had the effect to form two 
political parties— the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. 
Washington was the candidate of the Federalists for President, 
and was elected on the first Wednesday of January, 1789, and 
inaugurated April 30 of the same year. An extra session of 
Congress was called and ten amendments were made to the 
new Constitution, which were afterwards ratified by the States. 
The first regular session of Congress met at Philadelphia, Jan- 
uary 4, and the second December 6, 1790. Both parties sup- 
ported Washington for a second term, and being unanimously 
elected, he was inaugurated on March 4, 1793. He declined a 
third nomination, and retired from office March 4, 1797, to his 
seat at :Mount Vernon, where, after an illness of but twenty- 
four hours he died, at the age of sixty-seven years, December 
14, 1799. In his personal manner Washington was somewhat 
austere, his natural reserve commanding the deference of oth- 
ers while graciously accepting their 'homage. An aristocrat, 
yet always courteous. At the time of his death he was the 
owner of 8,000 acres of land and other property, including 
about 250 slaves, and yet in 1786 he wrote: "There is not a 
man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan 
adopted for the abolition of slavery." 




JOHN ADAMS, 
Our 2nd President. 

From March 4, 1797, to M^rch 4, 1801. 

Born at Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., October 19, I7:5- 

Died at Braintree, July 4, 1826. 



JOHN ADAMS was born October 30 (new style). 1735. 
When about fifteen years of age his father gave him the choice 
either to follow the family pursuit of farming, and to receive 
in due time as his portion a part of the estate which they had 
tilled, or to have the expense of a learned education bestowed 
upon him, with which, instead of a fortune, he was to make 
his way in future life. He chose the latter alternative, and as 
a result graduated from Harvard College in 1755. He then 
removed to Worcester, and became tutor in a grammar school, 
and at the same time was initiated into the practice of law 
in the office of Israel Putnam, who afterward became famous 
in the Revolutionary War. He was admitted to the bar in 
1758, and rapidly arose to eminence in his profession. He was 
married in 1764 to Abigail Smith. He was among the first to 
advocate the separation of the Colonies from England, and was 
looked upon as a patriot while yet a student at College. At a 
meeting in Braintree, in 1765, to oppose the Stamp Act, he 
proposed a set of resolutions, which were not only carried 
unanimously, but were afterward adopted by more than forty 
other towns. When, in 1774, it was determined to assemble a 
General Congress from the several Colonies, Mr. Adams was 
selected a delegate to that body from Massachusetts, and be- 
came one of the most active and energetic leaders of the Con- 
tinental Congress. He was a member of the committee which 
framed the Declaration of Independence. He served as Com- 
missioner to France and other countries, and during the war 
succeeded, in Holland, in securing a loan and assistance in 
defense of the Colonies against Great Britain. In 1785 Mr. 
Adams was appointed Ambassador to England. He returned 
to America in 1787, and was soon after elected Vice President 
under Washington. He became President in 1797, but was 
defeated for re-election in 1800 by Jefferson. During Mr. 
Adams' administration the relations of our country with 
France were strained to such a degree, that for a time war 
seemed imminent, but was happily averted by a combination 
of circumstances. He retired with dignity, and lived to the 
ripe old age of eighty-nine, enjoying his mental faculties to 
the last. Notwithstanding political differences, Adams and 
Jefferson remained warm personal friends. They were mates 
at college when young, and died on the same day, July 4, 1826. 
Mr. Adams was a sound scliolar, well versed in ancient 
languages and many branches of literature. He was of 
middling stature; his manners spoke the courtesy of the old 
school, and his address was dignified and manly. 




THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
Our 3rd President. 

From March 4, 1801, to March 4, 1809. 

Born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, April 2, 1743. 

Died at Monticello, Va., July 4, 1826. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON, third President of the United 
States, was born April 2, 1743, in Albemarle County, Virginia, 
a region of which his father, Peter Jefferson, was the third 
or fourth settler. He was sent to school at five years of age, 
and continued his studies uninterruptedly until he graduated 
from AVilliam and Mary's College, in 1762. He studied law in 
the office of George Wythe, and was admitted to practice in 
1767. He was at that time six feet and two inches tall, slim, 
erect as an arrow, of angular features and ruddy complexion. 
He had a delicate skin, hazel eyes and sandy hair. In addition 
to his other educational acquirements, he was an expert mu- 
sician, the violin being his favorite instrument. Jefferson was 
the most successful practitioner at the bar of Virginia, and 
quickly added to the estate left him by his father, until he 
had accumulated what in those days was considered a large 
fortune. On January 1, 1772, he married Martha Skelton. a 
widowed daughter of a wealthy neighbor. Jefferson took an 
active interest in political affairs; was elected several times to 
the House of Burgesses of Virginia. He was a member of the 
Continental Congress in 1776, and was appointed with Adams, 
Franklin, Sherman and Livingston to prepare a Declaration of 
Independence. Jefferson, at the request of his associates, 
drew up the Declaration, and after a few minor changes by 
them, was submitted to Congress on the 2d day of July, and 
was adopted and signed two days later. During the third 
year of the Revolution he was elected Governor of Virginia; 
served one term and declined a second nomination. He was 
then elected to Congress, and secured the adoption of the sys- 
tem of coinage which is still in vogue in the United States. 
He introduced many important measures in Congress, includ- 
ing one looking toward the abolition of slavery. He was Am- 
bassador to France, and afterward Secretary of State under 
Washington. Jefferson was inaugurated President ^Nlarch 4, 
ISOl, and again March 4, 1805. His administration of twice 
four years was characterized by the utmost simplicity. His 
dress Avas of plain cloth on the day of his inauguration, and 
instead of driving to the Capitol in a coach and six, as had 
been the custom, he rode there on horseback, without a guard 
or even a servant, dismounted and hitched the bridle of his 
horse to a fence. On the 4th of March, 1809, he retired from 
the Presidency, after an almost continuous public service of 
over forty years. He declined to be re-elected for a third term, 
although the Legislatures of five States formally requested him 
to be a candidate. He died in the eighty-third year of his life, 
on July 4. 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the 
Declaration of Independence, of which he was the author. 




JAMES MADISON, 
Our 4th President. 

From March 4, 1809, to March 4, 1817. 

Born at Port Conway, King George's County, Va., March 16, 

1751- 
Died at Montpelier, Va., June 28, 1836. 



JAMES MADISON, our fourth President, was born in 
Kings County, Virginia, March 16, 1751, during a temporary 
visit" of his mother to her relatives. He entered Princeton 
College in New Jersey in 1769, graduating as a B. A. in 1771, 
but remained in the college a year longer, studying under the 
direction of President Witherspoon. He returned to Virginia 
in 1772 much impaired in health, the result of close study, but 
continued his reading and studies with the same zeal as be- 
fore. He was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Conven- 
tion, and helped to form a Constitution for that State. He 
was elected a member of the Continental Congress, afterward 
the "Coagress of the Federation," in 1779. He strongly advo- 
cated a more perfect Union, and the giving of more power to 
the Congress than then existed. He wrote and spoke on this 
subject ,in Congress and elsewhere. He drew up an outline of 
a new system of government. These ideas, somewhat modi- 
fied and extended, formed what was known as the Virginia 
Plan of Government, and this plan again became the basis of 
the Constitution of the United States, which was adopted Sep- 
tember 17, 1787. This was Madison's greatest achievement. 
He gained the well-earned title of "Father of the Constitu- 
tion." He was a member of Congress, and took an active part 
in the debates. He was appointed Secretary of State by Jef- 
ferson in 1801. In 1809 he was elected President. His Cabinet 
was in part forced upon him by a Senatorial clique, and his 
administration lacked vigor, particularly during the war of 
1812-15. Madison served two terms as President, and in 1817 
retired to Montpelier, his country seat in Virginia. For nearly 
twenty years thereafter he was engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, but was ever interested in politics and literature. To 
the time of his death he continued to be consulted by states- 
men as an oracle on all constitutional questions. In character 
he was mild and conciliatory; he never lost the friendship or 
confidence of his political opponents. His death occurred June 
28, 1836, at his home in Virginia. 




JAMES MONROE, 
Our 5th President. 

From March 4, 1817, to March 4, 1825. 

Born at Monroe's Creek, Westmoreland County, Va., April 

1758. 
Died at New York City, July 4, 1831. 



JAMES MONROE was born in Westmoreland County, Vir- 
ginia, April 28, 1758. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary 
War he was a student at the college of William and Mary, 
but left his studies to join the Continental Army. He was a 
lieutenant in the New Jersey campaign, and was wounded at 
the battle of Trenton. The next year he served as captain 
with General William Alexander. In 1780 he began the study 
of law. In 1782 h'e was in the State Legislature of Virginia, 
and from 1783 to 1786 was a mernber of Congress. On retir- 
ing from Congress he entered the practice of law at Freder- 
icksburg. He was elected United States Senator in 1790. In 
1794 was appointed Minister to France, and recalled in 179G. 
He was commissioned in 1803 to act "with Livingston— then 
Minister at Paris— to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans 
and the territory embracing the mouth of the Mississippi 
River, which formed at part of the Province of Louisiana, re- 
cently ceded by Spain to France. In the absence of instruc- 
tions, they assumed the responsibility of negotiating the pur- 
chase, not only of New Orleans, but of the entire territory of 
Louisiana. Monroe was next commissioned as Minister to 
England. In 1804 he undertook a mission to Madrid, with the 
object of negotiating the purchase of Florida, but was unsuc- 
cessful. In 1810 he was Governor of Virginia. In 1811 he was 
Secretary of State in Madison's Cabinet, and took an active 
part in precipitating the war with England in 1812. He 

Avas elected President in 1816. and again in 1820. As Presi- 
dent he accomplislied the acquisition of the Floridas in 1819. 
Monroe is best Ivnown as the author of the so-called "Monroe 
Doctrine," a declaration inserted in his seventh annual mes- 
sage, December 2, 1823. It was the formulation of a sentiment, 
then beginning to prevail, that "America was for Americans." 
He therefore declared that "We would not view any inteiwen- 
tion for the purpose of oppressing them (referring to the Span- 
ish-American States), or controlling in any manner their des- 
tiny by any European power, in any other light than the mani- 
festation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United 
States." On the expiration of his Presidential term, Monroe 
retired to Oak Hill, his residence in London County, Virginia, 
but at the time of his death, July 4, 1831, he was residing in 
New York. He was married about 1786, and left two daugh- 
ters. He was a man of spotless character, and ranks high as 
a wise and prudent statesman. 




-^-iS^S"*^-' 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 

Our 6th President. 

From March 4, 1825, to March 4, 1829. 

Born at Braintree, Norfolk County, Mass., July ii, 1767. 

Died at Washington, D. C, February 23, 1848. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, eldest son of the second Presi- 
dent, was born in Braintree, Mass., on July 11, 17G7. The 
greater part of his education was received in Europe, which he 
visited in company with his father. Returning home after an 
interval spent in Holland: London and Paris, he graduated at 
Harvard in 1788, and after spending three years in a lawyer's 
office was adhiitted to the bar. His letters on political sub- 
jects, published in a Boston newspaper, attracted much atten- 
tion, and Washington appointed him Ambassador, first to the 
Hague and later to Portugal. Thi,s last appointment was de- 
clined on the advice of his father, and he was sent instead to 
Prussia. On Jefferson's becoming President he was recalled, 
and resumed the practice of law in Boston. He added to his 
employment as a lawyer that of Professor of Rhetoric and 
Belles Letters at Harvard University, which he held for three 
years. His lectures, the first ever read at an American Uni- 
versity, were published in 1810, and were much thought of. 
In 1809 President Madison appointed him Ambassador to Rus- 
sia. When war broke out between the United States and Eng- 
land, in 1812, Adams induced the Czar to make an offer of 
interA'ention, which, however, the English Government de- 
clined to accept. Adams, together, with Russell and Clay, the 
other American representatives, negotiated the Treaty of 
Peace with England, which was signed at Ghent, December 
24, 1814. In 1825 the election of a President fell, according to 
the Constitution, to the House of Representatives, since no 
one of the candidates had secured a majority in the Electoral 
College, and Adams was chosen in preference to Jackson, Clay 
and Crawford, although Jackson had stood firstan the number 
of electoral votes secured. The administration of Adams was 
marked by the imposition of a high tariff on imported goods, 
with a view of protecting and promoting internal industry, 
and by an unsuccessful attempt to buy Cuba from Spain. 
Adams failed to secure re-election in 1829, being defeated by 
Jackson, who had 178 votes to his 83 in the Electoral College. 
Two years later he was elected to Congress from his district 
in Massachusetts, and retained the position until his death. 
He stood for the office of Governor of Massachusetts, and then 
for that of Senator, but was defeated for both. He was a bold 
and fearless advocate for the abolition of slavery. He died of 
paralysis on the 23d of February, 1848, having been stricken 
two days before while in attendance at a session of Congress. 




ANDREW JACKSON, 
Our 7th President. 

From March 4, 1829, to March 4, 1837. 

Born near Cureton's Pond, Union County, N. C, March 15, 

1767. 
Died near Nashville. Tenn., June 8, 1845. 



ANDREW JACKSON, our seventh President, was borii 
March 15, 1767, at the Warsaw, or Waxliall Settlement, but 
whether in what is now North or South Carolina is not known. 
His parents had immigrated from Ireland in 1765. Jaclison had 
no regular education. He had some slight part in the Revo- 
lutionary War. He studied law" at Salisbury, N. C, and began 
to practice at Nashville, Tenn. He married the divorced wife 
of a man named Robards. As a Congressman from Tennessee 
he was an irreconcilable opponent of Washington. In 1797 
he was elected to the United States Senate, but resigned the 
following year. He was Judge of the Supreme Court of Ten- 
nessee from 1798 to 1804. Previous to his nomination for 
President there is nothing to record but military exploits, in 
which he displayed energy and skill of a high order, and a 
succession of personal acts in which he showed himself vio- 
lent, perverse, quarrelsome and immoderately indiscreet. In 
1806 he killed Charles Dickinson in a duel. He was Major- 
General of Militia in the Creek Indian War. In 1814 he was 
commissioned Major-General in the Regular Army, to serve 
against the English. He captured Pensacola, w^hich was used 
as a base of supplies, in November, and on January 8, 1815, 
he inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy before New Orleans. 
In 1821 Jackson was appointed Governor of Florida. In 1823 
he was elected to the Senate at Washington, and in 1824 was 
a candidate for President, his rival candidates being Adams, 
Crawford and Clay. Jackson received the largest number of 
votes in the Electoral College, but as no one had an absolute 
majority the election was thrown into the House of Repre- 
sentatives (as is provided for in the Constitution in such cases), 
and on February 9, 1825, Adams was chosen. Jackson was 
again a candidate in 1828, and was elected by a majority of 
95 votes in the Electoral College. In 1832 he was re-elected by 
a large majority over Clay, his chief opponent. Jackson is the 
only President, of whom it may be said that he went out of 
office far more popular than when he entered. In general his 
last years were quiet and uneventful. He died near Nashville, 
January 8, 1845. 




MARTIN VAN BUREN, 
Our 8th President. 

From March 4, 1837, to March 4, 1841. 

Born at Kinderhook, Columbia County, N. Y., December 5, 

1782. 
Died at Kinderhook, July 24, 1862. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN was the son of a small farmer, and 
was born December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, State of New 
York, on the Hudson. He was educated at the village school, 
and entering on the study of law at the age of fourteen, was 
admitted to the bar in 1803. His rise in his profession and in 
political reputation was rapid, due to the fact that he pos- 
sessed, with his other abilities, a peculiar power of winning 
personal trust and influence. In 1808 he was chosen Surrogate 
of Columbia County, and in 1812 a member of the State Legis- 
lature. From 1815 to 1819 he was Attorney-General of the 
State, and was recognized as the ruling spirit of the new 
Democratic school, known as the Albany Regency. In 1821 he 
was elected to the Senate of the United States, and in the 
same year was made a member of the convention for revising 
the State Constitution, in which he opposed universal suffrage. 
In 1828 he became Governor of New York. From March, 1829, 
to April, 1831, he was Secretary of State under President 
Jackson. During the recess of Congress he was appointed Min- 
ister to England, but upon assembling the Senate refused to 
confirm his appointment. In the following year he was chosen 
Vice President, and in 1S3G was elected President, to succeed 
Jackson. He was inaugurated March 4, 1837, entering upon 
his duties at a time of great commercial depression, and 
although the methods he adopted to deal with it Avere in them- 
selves admirable, the financial strain which existed during his 
term of office, weakened for a time the influence of his party. 
Besides the establishment of the Sub-Treasury system, Van 
Buren's name is associated with the pre-emption law, giving 
settlers on public lands the preference in their purchase. The 
Democratic convention met at Baltimore, May 5, 1840. It de- 
clared "that Congress had no constitutional right to levy a 
distinctly protective tariff, or to make internal improvements 
at the expense of the public treasury, to charter a national 
bank, or to interfere with slavery in the States." Van Buren 
was nominated for President on this platform, but was over- 
whelmingly defeated. In 1844 a majority of the delegates to 
the Democratic convention were pledged to support him, but 
on account of his opposition to the annexation of Texas they 
allowed a rule to be adopted requiring a two-thirds vote neces- 
sary for nomination. This he failed to obtain, and his name 
was withdrawn. In 1848 he was nominated by the anti- 
slavery section of his party, but the split caused the defeat of 
both Democratic candidates. The remainder of his life was 
spent chiefly in retirement on his estate at Kinderhook. In 
1853-55 he went on a European tour, He died at Kinderhook, 
July 24, 1862, 




WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, 
Our 9th President. 

From March 4, 1841, to April 4, 1841. 

Born at Berkeley, Charles County, Va., February 9, 1773. 

Pied at Washington, D. C, April 4, 1841, 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, ninth President of the 
United States, was born at Berliilej-, Charles City County, Vir- 
ginia, February 9, 1773. He was the third son of Benjamin 
Harrison, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a 
Governor of Virginia. In 1792 Harrison joined the army as 
an ensign, and in the following year he became lieutenant, 
and acted as aide-de-camp to General AVayne in his expedition 
against the Western Indians. He was promoted to a captaincy 
in 1795, but resigned in 1797, on being appointed Secretary of 
the Northwest Territory. In 1799 he was chosen to represent 
that territory in Congress, and after its division in 1801 he 
became Governor of the new territory of Indiana, and superin- 
tendent of negotiations with the Indians, over whom, on the 
breaking out of hostilities in 1811, he gained the important 
victory of Tippecanoe. In 1813, as Major-General and Com- 
mander of the Northwestern Army, he defeated the British 
forces at the battle of the Thames. In 1814 he concluded a 
treaty with the Northwestern Indians, and in the same year 
resigned his commission. In ISIG he was elected a member 
of Congress from Cincinnati; in 1819 a member of the State 
Senate of Ohio; in 1824 United States Senator, and in 1828 
was appointed Minister to Columbia, an office which he held 
for less than a year, when he returned for a time to private 
life. At the earnest request of the Whigs he was induced to 
become a candidate for President in 1836, and although un- 
successful against Van Buren in that campaign, he at the next 
election in 1840 defeated the same candidate by an overwhelm- 
ing majority, after a campaign memorable for the extraordi- 
nary enthusiasm it awakened, and historically important for 
its introduction of new political methods, many of the most 
characteristic features of Western elections having their origin 
in the Harrison campaign. He entered upon his Presidential 
duties March 4, 1841, and the Whigs were jubilant, but their 
victory was compromised, if not practically lost, by the death 
of Harrison, which occurred one month after his inaugura- 
tion, on April 4, 1841. His body is entombed on a hill over- 
looking the Ohio River at North Bend, near Cincinnati, and a 
handsome^ equestrian statue to his memory has been erected 
in that city. 




JOHN TYLER, 

Our 10th President. 

From April 4, 1841, to March 4, 1845. 

Born at Glenway, Charles County, Va., March 29, 1790. 

Died at Richmond, Va., January 17, 1862. 



JOHN TYLER, bom at Greenway, Va., March 29, 1790, 
was a son of Judge John Tj^ler, a Governor of Virginia, and 
a descendant of Henry Tyler, who settled in tliat State in 
1652. In 1802 he entered the grammar school of William and 
Mary, where, although fond .of fun. and frolic, and cultivating 
an inherited taste for the violin, he made good progress in his 
studies. After graduating in 180G, he began the study of law, 
and in 1809 was admitted to the bar, where his progress from 
the first was rapid. He became a member of the State Legis- 
lature in 1811. In 1813 he raised a company, in defense of 
Richmond, in command of which he subsequently served with 
the Fifty-second Regiment at Williamsburg and Providence 
Forge. In December, 1816, he was elected to Congress, whore 
he displayed much skill in debate as, an uncompromising ad- 
vocate of popular rights. In 1825 he was elected Governor of 
Virginia, and again in 1826. In 1827 he was chosen Senator. 
He opposed Clay on the tariff question in 1832, delivering a 
speech against the protective duties which lasted three days, 
but he voted for Clay's compromise bill in 1833. He was tlie 
only Senator who voted against the Force bill the same year, 
and this singularity of conduct somewhat damaged his repu- 
tation in Virginia, and on the Legislature of his State instruct- 
ing him to vote for the expurgation of these resolutions from 
the Senate record, he resigned his seat. His action led the 
Whigs to bring him forward as a candidate for Vice President, 
but he was badly defeated. For some time after this he de- 
voted his chief attention to the practice of law at Williams- 
burg. At the Whig convention which met in 1839, he was 
again nominated for the Vice Presidency on the ticket w^ith 
William Henry Harrison, and elected in November, 1840. On 
the death of Hariison, soon after his inauguration, Tyler suc- 
ceeded him. His elevation to the Presidency was thus acci- 
dental. His policy in office was opposed to the party which 
had nominated him and was on Democratic lines. It was dur- 
ing Tyler's administration that John Quincy Adams presented 
to Congress a petition from fifty-six citizens of Haverhill, 
Mass., for the peaceful dissolution of the Union, assigning as 
a cause the inequality of benefits conferred by Congress on dif- 
ferent sections of the country for the benefit of slave-holding 
interests. Tyler was succeeded by Polk in 1845. and spent the 
remainder of his life in retirement. He died at Richmond, 
Va., January 18, 1862. 




JAMES KNOX POLK, 
Our 11th President. 

From March 4, 1845, to March 4, 1849. 
Born near Pineville, Mecklenburg County 

2, 1795. 
Died at Nashville, Tenn., June 15, 1849. 



N. C, November 



JAMES KNOX POLK was of Scotch-Irish descent, his an- 
cestors, whose name was Pollok, having immigrated from Ire- 
land in the eighteenth century. He was the eldest of ten chil- 
dren, and was born on November 2, 1795, in Mecklenburg 
Count3% North Carolina, from which his father moved, in 1806, 
to the valley of the Duck River in Tennessee. At an early age 
he was placed in a merchant's office, but as he showed a dis- 
inclination for business, his father at last permitted him to 
begin preparatory studies for the University. In 1815 he en- 
tered the University of North Carolina, from which he gradu- 
ated with the highest honors in 1818. Admitted to the bar he 
speedily acquired a high reputation, and in 1823 he entered 
the State Legislature. In 1825 he was chosen to represent his 
district in Congress, to which he was re-elected every suc- 
ceeding two years until 1839. As a strong supporter of Demo- 
cratic opinions he identified himself Avith every important dis- 
cussion, and though he was not a brilliant speaker, his solid 
abilities, extraordinary energy and indomitable will soon gave 
him a place in the front ranks of politics. In 1835 he was 
chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, to which po- 
sition he was re-elected in 1837, and in 1839 he was elected 
Governor of Tennessee. In 1844 he was the Democratic can- 
didate for the Presidency, and was elected over Clay by a 
majority of sixty-five electoral votes. The election, in a great 
measure, turned on the annexation of Texas, which, however, 
was accomplished before his inauguration, and on December 
29, 1845, Texas was admitted as a State, with no provision as 
to slaverj^ One of the earliest questions with which Pollv's 
administration had to deal was the dispute between the United 
States and England, relative to the boundary line of Oregon. 
At first the President manifested a disposition to adhere to 
the principles of his position during the electioneering canvas 
— to claim the line of 54 degrees, 40 minutes — but through the 
influence, chiefly of Webster, Calhoun and Benton, he modified 
his demands by submitting the matter to be compromised by 
a new treaty, and the parallel of 49 degrees was established 
as the proper boundary in 184G. Following the acquisition of 
Texas came the Mexican War, resulting in the treaty of Guad- 
alupe Hidelgo, February 2, 1848, by which New Mexico and 
California were ceded to the United States. Other important 
measures of his administration were the admission of Iowa 
and Wisconsin to the Union, the adoption of a low tariff in 
184G, the organization of the Department of the Interior, and 
the adoption of a method of collecting Government revenues 
by specie without the aid of the banks. Polk retired from 
office March 4. 1849, and died at Nashville on June 5th of the 
same year. 




ZACHARY TAYLOR, 

Our 12th President. 

From March 4, 1849, to July 9, 1850. 

Born near Orange C. H., Orange County, Va., September 24, 

1784. 
Died at Washington, D. C, July 9, 1850. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR was boru in Orange County, Virginia, 
November 24, 1784. He entered tlie army as Lieutenant in 
1808, and rose to the ranlc of Major in the War of 1812 with 
Great Britain. At the outbrealv of the Mexican War, in 1845, 
he was in command of the American forces in Louisiana and 
Texas, and was directed to make the advance into the dis- 
puted territory which brought on the war. Beating the Mexi- 
cans in two battles he followed them into Mexico, and there 
defeated Santa Anna, in the crowning battle of the campaign, 
at Buena Vista, February 22,1847, after which, dissatisfied with 
his treatment by the administration, he resigned his commis- 
sion and returned to the United States. The acquisition of 
Texas, New Mexico and California opened up the anti-slavery 
agitation afresh, to decide what portion of the newly-acquired 
territory should be open to slavery. Out of the Southern oppo- 
sition to the organization of California and New Mexico, ex- 
cept as slave territory, grew a new party of moderate aboli- 
tionists, called Free Soilers. The Democratic convention met 
at Baltimore, May 22, 1848, and after a stormy session, in 
w^hich a resolution "that Congress had no power to interfere 
with slavery" Avas voted down, nominated Lewis Cass, of 
Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, 
for Vice President. The Free Soilers met at Buffalo, August 
9, and nominated Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams. The 
Whig convention met at Philadelphia, June 7, and nominated 
Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for President, and Millard Fill- 
more, of New York, for Vice President. The convention was 
silent on the slavery issue. Thus there were three parties in 
the field, and the campaign was unusually exciting. The 
Whigs were victorious, the popular vote being 1,360,101 for 
the Whigs, 1,220,554 for the Democrats and 291,263 for the 
Free Soilers. Taylor was inaugurated Monday, March 5, 1849. 
The struggle regarding slavery was the principal subject with 
which Taylor's administration had to deal. Congress was the 
scene of fierce and long drawn out debates, participated in by 
Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Jeff erson Davis and oth- 
ers, and the question was yet unsettled when Taylor died, July 
9, 1850, at Washington. In 1849 President Taylor forbid the 
fitting out by American citizens of a filibustering expedition 
against Cuba. 




MILLARD FILLMORE, 

Our 13th President. 

From July 9, 1850, to March 4, 1853. 

Born at Summerhill, Cayuga County, N. Y., January 7, 1800, 

Died at Buffalo, N. Y., March 8, 1874. 



MILLARD FILLMORE was born in what is now the town 
of Sumner Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., January 7, 1800. 
The place was then but a clearing made by his father, and 
the surrounding country was but sparsely settled. At the age 
of fourteen he had only the slightest rudiments of an educa- 
tion, gleaned from his parents with a little help from a school. 
At that age he was apprenticed for seven years to a fuller 
and clothier, to card wool and dye and dress the cloth made 
by the farmers' wives. By giving a promissory note for thirty 
dollars he purchased the last two years of his time from his 
master, and entered a lawyer's office as a student and helper 
at the age of nineteen. In 1820 he made his way to Buffalo, 
then but a village, and supporting himself by teaching school 
and in assisting the postmaster, continued his law studies, and 
was admitted to practice at Aurora, to which his father had 
removed, r.nd met with moderate success. In 1826 he married 
Abigail Powers. From 1828 to 1831 he served in the State 
Legislature. He was a member of Congress from 1832 to 1834, 
and again from 1836 to 1842. He opposed the annexation of 
Texas as slave territory, and w^as a warm advocate for in- 
ternal improvements and a protective tariff. During the latter 
part of his term of membership he was Chairman of 
the Waj's and ^Nleans Committee, and against strong opposi- 
tion carried an appropriation of $30,000 for Morse's telegraph. 
In 1844, as the Whig candidate for Governor of New York, 
he was defeated. In 1847 he was made Comptroller of the 
State of New York, which office he resigned on being elected 
Vice President of the United States in November, 1848. On 
July 9, 1850, President Taylor died, and on the next day Fill- 
more took the oath and assumed the office of President. By 
signing instead of vetoing the fugitive slave law, he made a 
breach between himself and his party. This law was most 
obnoxious in the free States, and was rendered in the mos! 
part ineffectual, the people being resolved to regard it as be- 
ing annulled by the "higher law." In 1848 he married Mrs. 
Caroline Mcintosh, a lady of fortune and culture. Three 
weeks before the close of his term of office (March 4, 1853), his 
wife died in Washington, and he returned to Buffalo with a 
son and daughter. His life closed iNIarch 8, 1874. He was 
regarded as an upright and conscientious man, loving simple 
ways and heartily devoted to his country. 




FRANKLIN PIERCE, 

Our 14th President. 

From March 4, 1853, to March 4, 1857. 

Born at Hillsborough, Hillsborough County, N. H., November 

23, 1804. 
Died at Concord, N. H., October 8, 1869. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE was born at Hillsborough, N. H., 
November 23, 1804. His father, Benjamin Pierce, served 
through the Revolutionary War, attained the rank of Major- 
General, and afterward became Governor of his State. The 
son entered Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Me., in 1820. The 
afterwards famous author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was in the 
class below him and was his intimate friend, and writing of 
Pierce, said: "His most notable characteristic at that time 
was his fascinating manner, which proved so magical as to 
win for him unbounded popularity." This same characteristic 
remained with him through life, and was the chief cause of 
his success. After leaving college in 1824, he studied law with 
Judge V\'oodbury, at Northampton, Mass., and with Judge 
Parker, at xVmherst, and came to the bar in 1827. His first 
appearance before a court was a failure, but this only incited 
him to redoubled determination. He was a zealous supporter 
of the Democratic party from the first. In 1829 he was elected 
to the State Legislature, of which he was Speaker in 1832-33. 
In the latter year he Avas elected to Congress, and in 1837 was 
chosen Senator. He displayed no striking oratorical gifts, but 
as a member of important committees gained general respect. 
In 1842 he resigned his seat in the Senate and returned to the 
practice of law. His reputation at the bar was very high, his 
success being largely due to his power of identifying himself 
with his clients' cause, and his striking personal influence over 
a jury. In 1846 he was offered the position of Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the United States, but declined it. On the outbreak of 
the Mexican War he joined one of the companies raised in 
Concord as a volunteer. He was soon appointed Colonel of 
the Ninth Regiment, and in Marcli, 1847, Brigadier-General. 
At the battle of Contreas, in August, he was severely injured 
by the fall of his horse. At the close of the war in 1847 he 
resigned his commission. In 1850 he was president of the 
commission for revising the Constitution of New Hampshire. 
In 1852, as the Democratic candidate, he was elected Presi- 
dent. The special feature of his inaugural address was the 
subject of slavery in the United States, and the announcement 
of his determination to strictly enforce the fugitive slave law. 
This was the key-note to his administration and pregnant with 
vital consequences to the country. From it came the repeal of 
the Missouri compromise, and the troubles in Kansas and Ne- 
braslva, wliich crystallized the opposing forces into the Repub- 
lican party and later led to the great rebellion. Pierce, sur- 
rounded by an able Cabinet, including Jefferson Davis as Sec- 
retary of War, firmly adhered to the pro-slavery party. He 
failed, notwithstanding, to secure a renomination, but was 
succeeded by Buchanan, when he retired to l\is home in Con- 
cord, N. H., after spending some j'ears in Europe. During 
the w^ar of 1861-65 his sympathies were wholly with the 
South. He died October 8. 1869. 




JAMES BUCHANAN, 
Our 15th President. 

From March 4, 1857, to March 4, 1861. 

Born at Cove Gap, Franklin County, Pa., April 22, 1791, 

Died at Wheatland, Pa., June i, 1868. 



JAMES BUCHANAN was born in Franklin County, Penn- 
sylvania, April 22, 1791. His father, for whom he was named, 
emigrated from Donegal, in Ireland, eight years before, and 
had become a well-to-do farmer. Buchanan graduated from 
Dickinson College, at Carlisle, in 1809. He studied law, was 
admitted to the bar in 1812, and settled at Lancaster, Pa. He 
soon gained reputation and a large practice, notwithstanding 
his youth. In 1812 he joined a party of volunteers and 
marched to the defense of Baltimore against the British, but 
their services were not wanted. In 1814 he was elected to the 
State Legislature. He was re-elected the following year, and 
in 1820 became a member of Congress. He made important 
speeches on the deficiency in military appropriations, on the 
bankrupt law and on the tariff question, maintaining that 
duties ought to be levied for revenue only. He gave warnings 
against forming alliances with Mexico and the South Ameri- 
can Republics, and insisted on the immense importance of 
Cuba to the United States, both commercially and strategic- 
ally. In 1828 he supported General Jackson for President, and 
at the same time was re-elected to Congress. On completing 
his fifth term Buchanan retired from Congress in 1831, and 
the next year was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary to St. Petersburg. His mission is marked 
by the negotiation of the first treaty of commerce between 
the United States and Russia. On his return from Russia he 
was elected United States Senator, and retained his seat until 
1845. In the struggle between President Jackson and the 
party, headed by Calhoun, Buchanan warmly defended the 
President and his claims. In the beginning of the movement 
against slavery he saw the great results tliat were likely to 
follow ,and Avished to suppress the agitation in its infancy, 
and this by suppressing the discussion of the subject in Con- 
gress. In 1845 he was appointed Secretary of State under 
Polk, and at the close of his term of office in 1849 retired to 
private life. Four years later he accepted from Pierce the 
appointment of Minister to Great Britain. In 1854 he ori^Ti- 
nated, and was one of the three members of the Ostend Con- 
ference on tlie subject of the acquisition of Cuba by the 
United States, he maintained that on the principle of self- 
preservation from dangers of the gravest kind, an armed in- 
tervention of the United States and the capture of the island 
from Spain would be justifiable. He returned from England 
in 185G, and was elected as a Democratic candidate to the 
Presidential cliair, and inaugurated March 4, 1857. The 
troubles in Kansas, and the questions involved in them, gave 
rise to new discussions and division. Buchanan gave his sup- 
port to the pro-slavery party, and dissensions grew during his 
administration to such an extent that disruption and war fol- 
loAved the election of liis successor. From the close of his 
administration in 18()0 he led a retired life till his death, which 
occurred at Wheatland, Pa., June 1, 18G8. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
Our 16th President. 

From March 4, 1861, to April 15, 1865. 

Born near Hodgenville, LaRue County, Ky., February 12, 1809. 

Died at Washington, D. C,, April 15, 1865. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1809, to wliicli point his grandfather, Abraham, had removed 
from Virginia in 17S1, while his father, Thomas, was a lad. His mother, 
Nancy Hanks, was also a Virginian by birth. In 1809 Lincoln's father 
left his rude log cabin home in Kentuckj' and settled in the forests of 
Indiana, in what is now Spencer County. Lincoln was engaged in the 
hard work incident to pioneer life, and had but limited opportunity to 
acquire an education. His mother, a woman of great force of charac- 
ter, of religious nature, and possessed of shrewd practical common 
sense, taught him to read and write. Three maxims she taught him, 
never to swear, never to touch liquor and never to lie; these he never 
did. He said when President: "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to 
my sainted mother." She died when he was nine years old, and a year 
later his father married again. At nineteen Lincoln made a trip to New 
Orleans in a flat-boat as a hired hand. On his return his father re- 
moved to Macon County, Illinois (1830), and he split the timber for a 
log cabin, built it and enclosed ten acres of land with a rail fence, of 
his own making. When twenty-one he made another flat-boat trip to 
New Orleans, floating down the Sagamon, the Illinois and the Missis- 
sippi rivers. He became a clerk in a store at New Salem, employing 
his spare time in reading and studying such books as he could procure. 
In 1832 he was Captain of a company which served in the Black Hawk 
\\iiv, and was popular because of his great strength and his ability to 
tell more and better stories than any other man in the army. He was 
defeated for the State Legislature in 1832, and was then appointed 
Postmaster of Salem. He borrowed all the books he could obtain, being 
too poor to buy them, and studied by the aid of his evening fire. Thus 
he studied Aesop's Fables, Pilgrim's Progress, life of Washington and 
of Clay, Bums, Shakesipeare, the Bible and books on surveying and law. 
He never read a novel in his life. He was in the State Legislature from 
1834 to ]840, being admitted to the bar in 1836, and in that year perma- 
nently removed to Springfield, 111. Lincoln speedily gained fame and 
reputation in debate in the Legislature and on the stump in political 
campaigns, and was the recognized anti-slavery leader of Illinois. On 
:May 10, 1800, the Republican National Convention at Chicago nomi- 
nated him for President, and he was elected on November 6th. The 
War of the Rebellion raged during his administration, and he met the 
great questions which arose with such wisdom, statesmanship and pa- 
triotism as to cause him to be regarded as one of the greatest charac- 
ters in history. He was re-elected in 1864 by an electoral vote of 212 
to 21 cast for General McClellen, his opponent. Mr. Lincoln, while at- 
tending a theater on April 14, 186.5, was shot by John Wilkes Booth, 
the leader of a band of conspirators and Southern sympathizers. He died 
the next morning without having regained consciousness. Lincoln was 
6 feet 4 inches high, thin, wiry, sinewy and raw-boned. He was a man 
of the working classes, a typical American, self-reliant, self-made and 
honest to the core. He was the liberator of the slave and the success- 
ful leader of a mighty people. Dignified, magnanimous, patriotic, con- 
siderate, manly, true, "with malice toward none, with charity for all," 
his fame, in the language of the immoi-tal Grant, "Will grow brighter 
as time passes and his great work is better understood." 




ANDREW JOHNSON, 
Our 17th President. 

From April 15, 1865. to March 4, 1869. 

Born at Raleigh, Wake County, N. C, December 29, 1808. 

Died in Carter County, Tenn., July 31, 1875. 



ANDREW JOHNSON was born in Raleigh, N. C, Decem- 
ber 29, 1808. His youth was passed in such poverty that it 
was not until his apprenticeship as a tailor that he learned to 
read. His wife taught him to write and cipher after their 
marriage. Settling in Greenville, Tenn., he worked at his 
trade, and in 1828 began to take an active interest in politics, 
organizing a workingman's party, by which he was elected to 
several local offices. He served in the State Legislature from 
1843 to 1853, was a member of Congress in 1853 and again in 
1855. Was Governor of Tennessee. In 1857 he took his seat 
in the United States Senate. He was a Democrat, but op- 
posed to the general policy of that party in the Senate. He 
supported Breckenridge, the candidate of the Southern wing 
of the Democratic party; yet when Lincoln was elected John- 
son made a strong speech in the Senate, denouncing secession, 
and pledging unconditional support to the Union. This loyalty 
to the Union subjected him to great personal danger from the 
Secessionists when he returned to Tennessee to organize a 
Union party. In 18G2 Lincoln appointed Johnson military 
governor of Tennessee, a post of difficulty and danger, in 
which he displayed an amount of energy and ability in dealing 
with the Secessionists that attracted attention in the North, 
and led to his nomination for the Vice Presidency by the Re- 
publican convention of 18G4, which re-nominated Lincoln for 
the Presidency. When, a few weeks after his inauguration, 
the assassination of Lincoln on April 14, 18G5, made Johnson 
President, his vigorous denunciation of treason as "a crime 
that must be punished," placed him for a time in high public 
favor. The rest of his term of office was spent in dissension 
with Congress as to the conditions upon which the seceding 
States should be allowed to return to the Union. Johnson 
vetoed bill after bill, but Congress passed them over his 
vetoes. In August the President made a tour through several 
of the Northern and Western States, denouncing the action of 
Congress as rebellious, and appealing to the people to support 
him; but at the Congressional elections that year the policy of 
Congress was endorsed by large majorities. The conflict be- 
came still more bitter, and was finally brought to a crisis by 
the President's attempt to remove Secretary Stanton from of- 
fice, after the Senate refused its approval.^ The Republicans 
in Congress claimed that Johnson had violated the tenure of 
office law, and on February 24, 1868, the House of Representa- 
tives passed a resolution impeaching him for high crimes and 
misdemeanors. At the trial before the Senate the charges 
were not sustained. A two-thirds majority was necessary for 
conviction; thirty-five voted "guilty," nineteen for "not guilty." 
On March 4, 1869, Johnson was succeeded in office by U. S. 
Grant. Returning to Greenville, he immediately prepared to 
re-enter public life, and in .Lqnuaiw, 1875, was elected United 
States Senator. He died July 3, 1875. 




ULYSSES S. GRANT, 
Our 18th President. 

From March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. 

Born at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, O., April 27, 1822. 

Died at Mount McGregor, N. Y., July 23, 1885. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT was bom at Mt. Pleasant, O., April 27, 1822. 
He was the son of Jesse K. and Hannah S. Grant, of Scottish ancestry. 
He was the eldest of six children. His father was a tanner and farmer, 
and Grant spent his early youth in assisting him. In 1839 he was ap- 
pomted to a cadetship at West Point Military Academy. He was 
specially proficient in mathematics and in cavalry drill, but gamed a 
fair standing in all his studies, and graduated with a high general aver- 
age in 1843. Receiving his commission as Brevet Second Lieutenant, 
he was assigned to the Fourth Infantry, and stationed at Jeftersou 
Barracks, near St. Louis. He was commissioned Second Lieutenant in 
1845, and transferred with his regiment to Corpus Christi, Tex., to aid 
the army of occupation under General Taylor. He participated in the- 
battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma and Monteray. He took part 
in the capture of Vera Cruz and the battles of Cerro Gordo, San An- 
tonio, Churubusco, Molen-del-Ray and Mexico. His conduct was char- 
acterized by the highest and most intelligent bravery. After the Mex- 
ican AVar he visited St. Louis, and there, on August 22, 1848, married 
Miss Julia B. Dent. He served with his regiment at various points, 
and in 1853 was promoted to a Captaincy. Resigning his commission in 
1854, he settled on a small farm near St. Louis, and in April, ISGO, re- 
moved to Galena, 111., where he. became clerk in his father's leather 
and hardware store. On the breakmg out of the Civil War, Grant 
warmly espoused the Union cause, and was appointed Colonel of the 
Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. He was appointed Briga- 
dier-General August 7, 18G1. The remaining story of General Grant's 
life is that of the Civil War itself, the record of great battles, great 
achievements and great successes over a gallant and powerful foe. The 
grade of Lieutenant-General was renewed by Congress, and in Febru- 
ary, 1804, Grant was appointed to the position by Lincoln. On April 9, 
18(J5, the surrender to Grant of General Lee, the Commander-in-Chief 
of the Confederate Army, with his whole forces, practically ended the 
war. Grant opposed President Johnson in his purpose of having Lee 
and others puuislied for treason. The rank of General, a rank higher 
than had previously existed in the United States, was created by Con- 
gress, and Grant sectired the commission. In 1SG8 he was elected Pres- 
ident, and four years later was re-elected. After retiring from the 
Presidency, March 4, 1877, General Grant visited foreign countries, 
making a circle of the globe, and everywhere was received with royal 
greetings by sovereigns and peoples of the old world. He returned' to 
tlie United States, arriving at San Francisco on September 20, 1879, 
and v.as veeeived with demonstrations of the warmest welcome on the 
Pacific coast and on his journey to his former home at Galena. Friends 
of (irant presented his name before the Republican convention in Chi- 
cago in 1880 for a third term, but many believing that the precedent 
might prove harmful to the country, therefore secured the withdrawal 
of his name, after thirty-six ballots had been taken without securing 
enough for his nomination. In 1881 General Grant removed to New 
York, where he subsequently resided. He wrote the memoirs of his 
life, which he completed four davs before his death, which occurred at 
Mt. McGregor, N. Y., July 23, 1885. 




RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, 
Our 19th President. 

From March 4, 1877, to March 4 1881. 

Born at Delaware, Delaware County, O., October 4, 1822. 

Pkd at Frcmort, O., January 17, 1893. 



RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, the nineteenth 
President of the United States, was born in Delaware, O., Oc- 
tober, 4, 1822. He was educated at Kenyon College, began 
the practice of law at Lower Sanduslvy, O., in 1845, and in 
1850 removed to Cincinnati, where he was City Solicitor from 
1859 to 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War he was ap- 
pointed Lieutenant-Major of the Twenty-third Ohio Infantry, 
and shortly afterward was made Lieutenant-Colonel. He dis- 
tinguished himself in campaigns in West Virginia and in the 
battles around Winchester. At ^outh Mountain he was se- 
verely wounded. In 1864 he was promoted to Brigadier-Gen- 
eral, and the following year was breveted Major-General. 
From 1864 to 1866 he was a member of Congress from Ohio, 
and from 1867 to 1875 Governor of the State. The Republican 
convention met in Cincinnati in June, 1876, and Hayes was 
nominated as its candidate for President. The Democratic con- 
vention mec at St. Louis the same month, and nominated 
Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. The popular election Novem- 
ber 7, 1876, resulted in the States of Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey and Indiana, and all the Southern States except 
Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida going for the Demo- 
crats. The Republicans carried the other States; but both 
parties claimed the three Southern States just mentioned. 
The matter was settled by a special intervention of Congress 
in establishing an Electoral Commission to decide the case. 
It hinged on the validity of the Louisiana and Florida elec- 
tions, the Republicans claiming that fraud and violence had 
been used there to secure a Democratic majority, while the 
Democrats denied the charge, and claimed that, inasmuch as 
said election returns had been legally made, Congress had no 
power to exclude them, even if the election had not been a 
fair one. The report of the Electoral Commission resulted in 
a resolution that the two Houses of the Forty-fourth Congress, 
having counted the electoral vote, have declared as final the 
election of the Republican nominees. By the action of the 
Commission the votes of Louisiana and Florida had been trans- 
ferred from the Democratic to the Republican side, which 
gave Hayes 185 votes, against 184 for Tilden. Mr. Hayes was 
inaugurated ]\Iarch 5, 1877. As President his career was 
marked by moderation, wisdom and sympathy with all true 
reforms. His independence of character was shown by his 
vetoes, his steady adherence to principle and his refusal to 
pander to mere party politics. Perhaps the most important 
event that occurred during President Hayes' administration 
was the resumption of specie payment in 1879. His term ex- 
pired March 3, 1881. and Mr. Hayes retired to his home, 
"Spiegel Grove," at Fremont, O., to lead a private life, where 
he died January 17, 1893, 




JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD, 
Our 20th President. 

From March 4, 1881, to September 19, 1881. 

Born at Orange, Cuyahoga County, O., November 19, 1831, 

Died at Elberor, N. J., September 19, 1881. 



JAMES ABRAM G A-RFIELD was born in Orange Town- 
ship, Guyalioga County, Oliio, November 19, 1831. As a boy 
he had few advantages, and received a common school educa- 
tion only. He then worlied early and late at various occupa- 
tions until he accumulated sufficient money to put him through 
college. He entered Williams, in Massachusetts, in the fall 
of 1854, and two years later graduated with one of the high- 
est honors of his class. In 1857 he was made President of 
Hiram College. He studied and practiced law, and was a 
member of the Ohio Senate in 1859-60. In 1801 he entered the 
army as Colonel of the Forty-second Ohio Volunteers, and 
served in Southeastern Kentucky. In 1862 he was promoted 
to Brigadier-General of Volunteers, and served at Shiloh and 
Corinth. In 1863 he was appointed Chief of Staff of General 
Rosecrans, and for gallantry at the battle of Chicliamauga 
was promoted to Major-General of Volunteers. He resigned 
shortly afterward to occupy a seat in Congress, serving on va- 
rious important committees until 1880, when he was elected 
United States Senator. At the Republican convention held in 
Chicago in June, 1880, he received the nomination for Presi- 
dent of the United States, and was elected on November 2d 
over his competitor. General Winfield Scott Hancock, by the 
votes of every Northern State except Is'ew Jersey and Cali- 
fornia, his electoral vote standing 215 to 155 for General Han- 
cock. Garfield was inaugurated on March 4, 1881. Two op- 
posing forces confronted him at the opening of his administra- 
tion. These forces were Mr. Conkling and Mr. Blaine. That 
Garfield had counseled with each is certain; that he was under 
obligations to each is certain. Mr. Conkling was the chief 
representative of Stalwartism, and as such he claimed the 
right to control Presidential appointments for his own State. 
Mr. Blaine was also a leader; his magnetic oratory had given 
him a singular fame in Congress and throughout the country. 
In making up his Cabinet, in which Mr. Blaine was made Sec- 
retary of State, Garfield did not consult Mr. Conkling, and 
this gave him offense; but the appointment of Robertson as 
Collector of the Port of New York produced an open rupture 
between the two, which was not bridged over during Mr. Gar- 
field's life. On July 2, 1881, he was shot in the depot of the Bal- 
timore Sc Potomac Railroad, in Washington, by Charles Jules 
Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker. He lingered, suffering 
great pain, until September 19 of the same year, when he died 
at Elberon, N. J., to which place he had been removed, in the 
hope of prolonging his life. His remains were removed to 
Washington, and funeral services were held in the rotunda of 
the Capitol. On September 26 the burial services were held at 
Cleveland, O., and the casket deposited in the tomb prepared 
for it. 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR, 

Our 21st President. 

From September 20, 1881, to Alarch 4, 1885. 

Born at Fairfield, Franklin County, Vt., October 5, 1830. 

Died at New York Citv, November 18, 1886. 



CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR was born in Fairfield, Frank- 
lin County, Virginia, October 5, 1830. He was graduated at 
Union College, Vermont, in 1848; was a member of the Psi 
Upsilon fraternity, and one of six in a class of over one hun- 
dred .who were elected members of the Phi Beta Kappa So- 
ciety. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and at once became 
a member of the firm of Culver, Parker & Arthur. In 1861 
he was appointed on the staff of Governor Edwin D. Morgan 
as engineer-in-chief, with the rank of Brigadier-General, and 
at the beginning of the Civil War became Acting Quarter- 
master-General. In February, 1862, he was made Inspector- 
General ,with the rank of Brigadier-General. In July he re- 
signed the Inspectorship-General to become Quartermaster- 
General. From 1862 to 1871 he was engaged in active law 
practice. In 1871 he was Collector of the Port of New York, 
and sat in the Senate until 1878. He w^as elected Vice Presi- 
dent in 1880, and took the oath of office March 4, 1881, and on 
September 20th of the same year, one day after the death of 
President Garfield, he took the oath of office as President of 
the United States. Civil service reform had been strongly rec- 
ommended by the late President, and President Arthur, in his 
first annual Message, concurred with him, but in modifying 
terms. A bill for this reform was introduced into the Senate, 
but neither Mr. Arthur nor his successor succeeded in apply- 
ing its provisions according to the spirit of the law. The chief 
feature of Mr. Arthur's administration was its business as- 
pect, and it will go down in history as a term in which the 
principles of ordinary business were more or less thoroughly 
applied to National government. During this period a law 
was passed, permitting the President to apply the accumulated 
surplus in the Treasury to the purchase of interest-bearing 
bonds, whenever such bonds could be thus retired at a reason- 
able price. The rate of first-class postage was also reduced 
from three cents a half ounce to two cents an ounce, besides 
other reductions in mailing rates of other classes. It was con- 
fidently expected by many persons in both parties that Mr. 
Arthur's wise, conservative and patriotic policy, under which 
the countr3^ had been blessed with remarkable prosperity, 
would secure for him the Republican nomination for the ensu- 
ing term of office; but the friends of James G. Blaine were too 
numerous and too well organized, and Mr. Arthur was not re- 
nominated. At the close of his term he returned to New York, 
where he died suddenly of apoplexy, November 18, 1886, at the 
age of fifty-six j^ears. 




GROVER CLEVELAND, 

Our 22nd President. 

From March 4, 1885, to March 4, 1889; and from March 4, 1893, 

to March 4, 1897. 
Born at Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., March 18, 1837. 



GROVER CLEVELAND was born in Caldwell, Essex 
County, New Jersey, March 18, 1837. He was christened 
Stephen Grover, in honor of Rev. Stephen Grover, a Presby- 
terian minister, but the first name was omitted in his early 
life. In 1841 his parents removed to Fayetteville, N. Y., where 
Grover received an academic education, and afterward became 
a clerk in a country store. At the age of seventeen he became 
an assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the 
Blind. In 1855 he went to Buffalo, and assisted his uncle, 
Louis F. Allen, in the compilation of the "American Herd 
Book," and in August of that year entered a law office in 
Buffalo as a student at law. He was admitted to the bar in 
1859, and in 18G3 was appointed District Attorney of Erie 
County, a position which he retained three years. In 1865 he 
was the Democratic candidate for District Attorney, but was 
defeated. He then entered upon tlie practice of his profession, 
and four years later became a member of the law firm of Lan- 
ning, Cleveland & Folsom. In 1870 he was elected Sheriff of 
Erie County, and at the close of his term of office continued 
the practice of law. In 1881 Mr. Cleveland was elected Mayor 
of Buffalo, and by his fearless use of the veto prerogative, 
soon became known as the Veto Mayor. In 1882 he was 
elected Governor of New York. In 1884 he was the Demo- 
cratic nominee for President, his Republican opponent being 
James G. Blaine. The canvass was remarkable, more for dis- 
cussion of the personal characters and qualifications of the 
respective candidates than for the discussion of political is- 
sues. In the election which followed Mr. Cleveland received 
a majority of thirty-seven votes in the Electoral College. His 
administration of the Presidential office was marked by the 
same unprecedented use of the veto power Avhich had charac- 
terized his administrations of the Gubernatorial and Mayorial 
offices. June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married, in the 
White House, Frances Folsom, daughter of his former law 
partner. In 1888 Cleveland was renominated for the Presi- 
dency by the Democratic National Convention, but was de- 
feated by the Republican candidate, Benjamin Harrison. At 
the close of his term Mr. Cleveland resumed the practice of 
law in New York City. In 1892 he was again the candidate 
of his party, and was elected to the Presidency. One of his 
first acts of his second administration was to withdraw the 
treaty for the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, which had 
been negotiated by President Harrison. On March 4, 1897, 
Mr. Cleveland retired from the Presidential office to his coun- 
try home at Gray Gables, and thereafter took but little part in 
public affairs. 



■#^^' 



.' 




BENJAMIN HARRISON, 

Our 23rd President. 

From March 4, 1889, to March 4, 1893. 

Born at North Bend, Hamilton County, O., August 20, 1833, 

Died at IndianapoHs, Ind., March 14, 1901. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON, born at North Bend, O., August 
20, 1833, was the son of John Scott Harrison. His grandfather, 
William Henry Harrison, was the ninth President of the 
United States, and his great-grandfather was Benjamin Har- 
rison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
Harrison as a lad assisted in work on liis grandfather's farm, 
and at the age of fifteen went to Farmer's College, at College 
Hill, and two years later entered Miami University at Oxford, 
O., from which he graduated in 1852 with high honors. He 
was an eloquent and fluent speaker from youth. After leaving 
the University he studied law in Cincinnati, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1853, and in the same year married Miss Caro- 
line L. Scott. In 1854 he removed to Indianapolis, Ind., and 
began the practice of law. His first appearance before a court 
was to prosecute a man charged with burglary, and he secured 
a conviction. He was in straightened circumstances, and was 
glad to accept a five-dollar fee now and then for a case before 
a country 'Squire. Promptness and thoroughness were char- 
acteristics which were manifest at that time," as well as during 
his whole future career, and he arose rapidly in his profession, 
acquiring a large and lucrative practice. He became conspicu- 
ous in Indiana politics in 18G0, and tnereafter took an active 
part in every political canvass in the State. He was mustered 
into the army July 14, 18G2, as a Second Lieutenant in the 
Seventieth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers; Avas commis- 
sioned Captain July 22d, and Colonel August 7th of the same 
year. He was in command of the regiment until August 20, 
18G3. He was appointed Commander of a brigade, and served 
with conspicuous gallantry in the Atlantic Campaign, and re- 
turned to civil life at the close of the war with the rank of 
Brigadier-General. He resumed the practice of law at In- 
dianapolis. In 1876 he was defeated for the office of Governor 
by Hendricks. In 1880 he was Chairman of the Indiana Dele- 
gation to the Republican Convention which nominated Gar- 
field. He was United States Senator from 1881 to 1887. He 
was soon recognized as one of the foremost in debate and in- 
fluence. He criticized Cleveland's A'etoes of pension bills, and 
favored every measure of public policy which had received 
the approval of his party. He was nominated for President in 
1880. A feature of the canvass which followed was the splen- 
did speeches he made to delegations of voters which visited 
him at his home. As President he took a firm stand for 
honest money, and was an out-and-out Protectionist. His ad- 
ministration was businesslike, dignified, firm and patriotic in 
its foreign policy. He was renominated in 1892, but failed of 
election. Mrs. Harrison died a few days previous to the elec- 
tion. After retiring Mr. Harrison delivered a course of lec- 
tures on constitutional law at the Leland Stanford. Jr., Uni- 
versity in California. In April, 1896. he maiTied Mrs. Mary 
Dimmick. He died at Indianapolis, March 14, 1901. 




WILLIAM Mckinley, 

Our 24th President. 

From March 4, 1897, to September 14, 1901. 

Born at Niles, Trumbull County, O., January 29, 1843. 

Died at Buffalo, N. Y., September 14, 1901. 



WILLIAM McKINLEY was born in Niles, Trumble 
County, Ohio, January 29, 1843, of Scotch-Irisli ancestry. He 
received his preliminary education in the public schools of 
Niles. He excelled in mathematics and the languages, and was 
the best equipped of all the students in debate. In 1860 he 
entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pa., but owing to 
failing health he left college and sought a change by engaging 
as teacher in the public schools. At 16 he became a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. When the Civil War broke 
out in 1861, he was a clerk in the Poland Post Office. Mc- 
Kinley enlisted as a private soldier in Co. E, of the 23d Ohio 
Volunteers. He was rapidly promoted to Commissary Sergeant, 
Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, and on July 25, 1864, at 
the age of twenty-one to Captain for gallant services at Antie- 
tam. Camp Piatt, Winchester and in engagements at other 
points. On March 14, 1865, he was commissioned Major by 
brevet for gallant and meritorious services at Opequan, Cedar 
Creek and Fisher's Hill. He was mustered out of service with 
his regiment July 26, 1865. He studied law at Youngstown; 
completed his course at the law school in Albany, N. Y., and 
was admitted to the bar at Warren, O., in 1867. He made his 
first political speech that year in favor of negro suffrage. He 
settled at Canton; was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Starke 
County in 1869; defeated for the same office in 1871 by forty- 
five votes. On January 25, 1871, he married Miss Ida Saxton. 
In the Gubernatorial campaign between Hayes and Allen, in 
1875, McKinley took an active part, making numerous and ef- 
fective speeches in favor of honest money and the resumption 
of specie payments. He was elected to Congress in 1878, 1880, 
1882, 1884, 1886 and 1888. He made great speeches on the 
tariff question, which attracted wide attention. He was chair- 
man of the Ways and Means Committee, and on April 16, 
1890, introduced the general tariff bill that has since borne his 
name. He was defeated for re-election in 1890, his district 
having been gerrymandered by the Democratic Legislature. 
Was elected Governor of Ohio in 1891 and again in 1893. In 
1896 he was nominated for President by the Republican Con- 
vention, and elected in November of that year. Was inaugu- 
rated March 4, 1897. Events were rapidly culminating which 
brought on the war with Spain. It was expected that his 
course with Spain on the Cuban question would be aggressive, 
but on the contrary it was marked by calmness and modera- 
tion. During his administration the Spanish War was brought 
to a shccessful close, and the country experienced unparalleled 
prosperity. Foreign trade grew by leaps and bounds, while 
at home manufacturing was stimulated and wages increased. 
McKinley was unanimously renominated and triumphantly 
re-elected in 1900. While attending the Pan-American Ex- 
position at Buffalo, September 6, 1901. he w^as shot dovm by 
Leon Czolgoz, an anarchist, and died September 14th. 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 
Our 25th President. 

From September 14, 1901. 

Born in New York City, October 27, 1858. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT was born in New York City, 
October 27, 1858. Eight generations of his family have lived 
in New York, and were prominent in social, business and po- 
litical affairs, while members of the family have taken active 
parts in all the wars of the country from the Revolution to 
the Spanish War, Roosevelt is of mingled Dutch, Scotch, Irish 
and French Huguenot ancestry. He was born in a home of 
wealth, but not to a life of idleness. Being a delicate boy, his 
first business in life was to make himself strong. This he 
succeeded in doing. Always taking an energetic part in all 
athletic sports, he graduated from Harvard in 1880 with a 
sound body and well trained mind. On leaving college he 
studied law. He was elected to the General Assembly of New 
York in 1881, and served four consecutive terms. In 188G he 
was defeated for the olBce of [Mayor of New York City, and 
later Avas appointed a Republican member of the United States 
Civil Service Commission by President Cleveland. In 189.J he 
resigned that ofiice to accept that of a Police Commissioner of 
New York from Mayor Strong. He found police affairs in 
New York in a demoralized condition, but with his usual 
energetic methods and uncompromising honesty he soon 
brought the administration of the department to a high de- 
gree of proficiency. From the New Yorlv ofiice he was called 
by President McKinley, on April 16, 1897, to be Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Navy. There again his energy and quick 'mas- 
tery of detail contributed much in the preparation of the navy 
for the brilliant feats which soon followed. When war with 
Spain brolve out, he could not remain in the quiet of a Govern- 
ment office. In earlier life he had spent much time in the 
West, and there learned to know cowboys as courageous men, 
strong to bear the hardships of warfare. From such men the 
famous Rough Riders were chiefly recruited. More than all 
else that induced him to go to the front Avere his devotion to 
the cause and his love for an active life. The regiment was 
known as RooscA'elt's Rough Riders, although it was com- 
manded by Colonel Wood, of the regular army, Colonel Roose- 
velt being second in command, with tlie rank, until promoted, 
of Lieutenant-Colonel. At the head of his Rough Riders he 
pressed up the hill at Guasimas on the 24th of June, leading 
his men to victory. After the war he was mustered out with 
his regiment, and was elected Governor of New York. The 
Republican Convention of 1900 nominated him for Vice Presi- 
dent, which he reluctantly accepted. On the death of McKin- 
ley, September 14, 1901, he became President. He announced 
that the policies pursued by the late President would be con- 
tinued by himself. Important events which occurred during 
the first year of his administration were the reduction of war 
revenues, legislation for the government of the Philippine 
Islands, and the visit of Prince Henry of Prussia to our coun- 
try as an emissary of friendship from the German Empire. 



FACTS ABOVT OVK PRESIDENTS. 



Previous to 1804 each elector voted for two candidates for 
President. Tlie one who received the largest number of votes 
was declared President, and the one who received the next 
largest number of votes was declared Vice President. 

In 1800 Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr each received 73 
electoral votes, and the choice therefore devolved upon the 
House of Representatives. Jefferson received the votes of 
ten States and was declared President, Burr having rceived 
the votes of four States. 

In 1824 no candidate for President had a majority of all 
the electoral votes, and the House of Representatives elected 
John Quincy Adams. 

In 1836 no candidate for Vice President had a majority of 
all the electoral votes, and the Senate elected R. M. Johnson. 

The following served as Vice Presidents before bcoming 
President: John Adams, Jefferson, Van Buren, Tyler, Fillmore, 
Johnson, Arthur and Roosevelt. 

"Washington's first inauguration was in New York and his 
second in Philadelphia. John Adams was inaugurated in Phil- 
adelphia. All other Presidents elected by the people were in- 
augurated in Washington. 

Washington, Monroe and Jackson were soldiers in the Rev- 
olutionary War. Jackson, W. H. Harrison, Tyler and Buch- 
anan in the war of 1812-15. Lincoln in the Black Hawk War. 
Taylor, Pierce and Grant in the Mexican War. Grant, Hayes, 
Garfield. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison and McKinley in the 
Civil War, and Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War. 

Adams and Jefferson were signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, and Washington and Madison of the Constitution. 

Seven Presidents were born in Virginia, five in Ohio, three 
in New York, three in North Carolina, two in Massachusetts, 
and one each in Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey, New 
Hampshire and Kentucky. 

Buchanan was the only President who never married. 
Tyler, Fillmore and Benjamin Harrison were each married 
twice. Five Presidents married widows, and one married a 
livorced woman. Cleveland was the only President married 
|n the White House, and his second daughter the only child 
^f; a President born therein. Grant's daughter was the only 
oitlM of a President married therein. 

tV H. Harrison, Taylor, Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley 
^^ LH ofl3ce. 



RHYMES OF THE PRESIDENTS. 



1789~First stands Gen. George Washington, "Father" benign; 

Selected the leader in seventeen eighty-nine. 
1797 — To Adams' name "President" they aflix 

By his election in seventeen ninety-six. 
1801— And Thomas Jefferson, by feeling kindred 

Promoted from Vice-President in eighteen hundred. 
1809— As fourth, James Madison. Secretary of State, 

Carried to the front in eighteen hundred and eight. 
1817 — Tn compliment for service to his country, keen, 

Monroe was honored in eighteen hundred and sixteen. 
1825— "Like father, like son," as was done several times before, 

John Quincy Adams, the choice of eighteen twenty-four. 
1829 — The seventh was Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee State, 

Made President in fall of eighteen twenty-eight. 
1837 — Martin Van Buren, eighth on the line we fix. 

By the people's choice in eighteen thirty-six. 
1841- William Henry Harrison, number nine, has won. 

By the election of eighteen forty-one. 
3841— John Tyler, by the death of Harrison, did become 

As President number ten in eighteen forty-one. 
1845 — James K. Polk, Jackson's admirer, who had been l)efore 

Elected to office in eighteen forty-four. 
1849— For Mexican victories the people elevate 

General Zachary Taylor in eighteen forty-eight. 
1850— At death of Taylor in eighteen fifty the nation 

Promoted Millard Fillmore to the exalted station. 
1853— Then comes Franklin Pierce, the fifteenth, into view, 

In the fall election of eighteen fifty-two. 
1857— The year eighteen fifty-six brings James Buchanan, 

The Demo' candidate, a Pennsylvanian. 
1861— "Abram" Lincoln to the nation's help did come 

For eight years, beginning eighteen sixty-one. 
1864— And by the assassin's crime remained but four, 

When Johnson succeeds in eighteen sixty-four. 
1869— Next General Grant assumed the honor great, 

Called from the army in eighteen sixty-eight. 
1877— The Centennial year, that second seventy-six. 
Selects R. Burchard Hayes in eighteen seventy-six. 
1881— Garfield, eighteen eighty, gains ascendancy, 

"From the towpath to the Presidency." 
1881— Again the assassin fells her country's son. 

And Arthur advanced in eighteen eighty-one. 
1885— The twenty-fifth administration bore 

Cleveland to the front in eighteen eighty-four. 
1880~After four years' interim the Republican candidate, 

Benjamin Harrison, elected in eighty-eight. 
1893— Cleveland, found to be good and true. 

Is again elected in ninety-two. 
1897— Thro' hard times, the Demmies get into a fix, 

And McKinley is elected in ninety-six. 
1901— The new-born century rolls around. 

And "Mac"' in the chair once more is found. 
1901— The assassin's hand in nineteen one, is felt. 

And McKinley is succeeded by Roosevelt. 



Points iiv Americaiv History. 

1492— Columbus sails from Spain, August 4. Discorers the Ba- 
hama Islands, October 12; Cuba, October 28, and 
Hayti, December 6. 

1493— Columbus sailed on his second voyage. 

1497_john Cabot, of England, discovers Labrador and New- 
foundland. 

1498— Columbus sailed on his third voyage. ' 

1499_Amerigo Vespucci discovers South America. 

1502— Columbus sailed on his last voyage. 

1506— Columbus died at Yalladolid, May 20. 

1511— Havana, Cuba, founded by Yalasquez. 

1513— The Pacific Ocean discovered by Balboa. 

1524— American coast explored by Verrazzani. 

15G4— The Huguenots in Florida. 

15(35_St, Augustine, Fla., founded by the Spaniards. 

1584- Virginia named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the virgin 
Queen. 

1601— First English colony established at mouth of the Ken- 
nebec, in Maine. 

1607— Virginia colonized; John Smith, Governor. 

1609— Hudson explored the Bay, vrhich bears his name. 

1614— New Amsterdam (New York) settled by the Dutch. 

1616— Tobacco cultivated in Virginia. 

1619— First legislative assembly in America. 

1620— The Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod, November 11. 

1629— New Hampshire settled. 

1630— Boston founded. 

1631— Vermont and New Hampshire named. 

1632— Baltimore settled by Irish Catholics, under Lord Balti- 
more. 

1633— Hartford, Conn., settled. 

1635— Connecticut settled by Hooker, and Rhode Island by 
Roger Williams. 

1637— Negro slaves imported into New England. 

1638— Harvard College founded. 



1639— First printing press used at Cambridge, Mass. 

1645— First public school established in New England. 

1648— Iroquois wars. 

1655— Maryland seat of religious war. 

1656— Massachusetts expelled Quakers. 

1663— Religious liberty granted to Rhode Island by charter. 

1664— English capture New Amsterdam and change the name 

to New York. 
1670— Detroit founded by the French. 
1676— Bacon's Rebellion. 

1682— Pennsylvania settled by the Quakers, under William 
Penn. Louisiana settled by the French. Philadelphia 
founded by Penn. LaSalle explores the Mississippi 
to its mouth. 
1683— War with the Iroquois renewed. 
1684— Massachusetts' charter lost. 
1687— Connecticut charter concealed in the Charter Oak, at 

Hartford. 
1692— T\'itchcraft excitement at Salem. Twenty persons exe- 
cuted for witchcraft. 
1699— Captain William Kidd, famous pirate, at Gardner's Bay, 

Long Island. 
1701— Yale University founded. 

1704— First newspaper in the world published, April 24. 
1710— First postoffice in America established. 
1715— Yammassee War in Carolina. 
1717— Founding of New Orleans. 

1729— Carolina divided; Albemarle Colony becomes North Car- 
olina, and Carteret Colony becomes South Carolina. 
1732— Georgia settled by Oglethorpe. George Washington 

born, February 22. 
1742— Spanish invasion of Georgia. 
1753— Washington's journey to the Ohio River. 
1754— Kentucky settled by Daniel Boone. 

1755— French and Indian wars. Braddock's defeat. War de- 
clared by Great Britain. 
1759— Canada lost to the French. Battle of Montmorenci. 

Death of Wolf and Montcalm. 
1761— Canada ceded to Great Britain. 
1764— St. Louis founded by the French, 

176.5— Stamp Act passed. The Colonies hold their first Con- 
gress at New York. 



1766— stamp Act repealed. 

1767_Obnoxious duties levied by Parliament on teas, paper, 
glass, etc., imported by the Colonies. 

1768— British troops sent to Boston. Great Fire at Montreal. 

1770— The duties on teas repealed. 

1773— Cargoes of tea ships thrown into Boston harbor by 
masked men. 

1774— First Continental Congress meets at Philadelphia, Sep- 
tember 5. 

1775— Revolutionary War begun. Battle of Lexington, April' 
19. Perpetual union of the Colonies formed, May 20. 
Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief of the- 
Continental Army, June 14. Battle of Bunker HilL 
June 17. 

1776— British destroy Norfolk, January 1. British evacuate 
Boston, April 14. Independence declared July 4. 
Americans evacuate New York, September 15. Battle 
of Trenton, December 2G. 

1777— Battle of BrandyAvine, September 27. British take Phil- 
adelphia, September 11. Battle of Germantown, Oc- 
tober 4. Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga. Corn- 
wallis defeated at Princeton, January 3. American 
flag adopted by Congress, June 14. LaFayette arrives. 
Valley Forge encampment. 

1778— British evacuate Philadelphia, June 18. Battle of Mon- 
mouth, June 28. New Haven sacked by the British, 
July 5. 

1779— Battles of Fairfield, Green Farm, Stony Point, Stone 
Ferry, Paublus Hook. 

1780— Treason of Arnold, September 22. Execution of Andre, 
October 2. 

1781— Battles of Cowpens, Fort Ninety-Six, Eulaw Springs, 
Yorktown. 

1782— Independence of United States recognized by Holland, 
April 19. Preliminary articles of peace signed at 
Paris, November 30. 

1783— Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and the United 
States, September 23. 

1786— Cotton introduced into Georgia. Decimal currency 
adopted. 

1787— Constitution of the United States adopted, July 23. 

1788— Constitution ratified by all States except North Carolina 
and Rhode Island. The Quakers free their slaves at 
Philadelphia. 



1789— Organization of the United States Government. Wash- 
ington elected first President. 
1790— Deatli of Benjamin Franlvlin, April 17. 
1792— Washington City chosen as Capitol of the United States. 

Kentiicliy admitted to the Union. 
1793— Cotton gin invented by William Whitney. 
1799— Death of Washington. 

1800— United States Government removed to Washington. 
1801— West Point Military Academy established. 
1802— Ohio admitted to the Union. 
1803- Louisiana purchased of the French. 
1812— United States declares war against Great Britain, June 

12. Naval battles. 
1813— Perry's victory on Lake Erie. 
1814— "Star Spangled Banner" composed, September 14. Treaty 

of peace with Great Britain. December 24. 
1815— Battle of New Orleans, January 8. 
1818— Illinois admitted into the Union. 

1819— The first steam vessel (the Savannah) crosses the At- 
lantic. 
1820-Florida ceded to the United States by Spain. Maine 

admitted to the Union. 
1821— Missouri admitted to the Union. 
1823— The Monroe Doctrine declared. 
182G— Death of Thomas Jefferson, July 4. 
1830— First locomotive on the B. & O. Railroad. 
1832— The Black Hawk War. 
1834— Death of La Fayette. 
1837— The telegraph perfected by Morse. 
1841— The sewing machine invented by Elias Howe. 
1844— First telegraph line in the United States. 
1845— Texas annexed to the Union. :Mexican War. 
1846-Battle of Palo Alto, Mexico. Battle of Reseca de la Pal- 
ma. New Mexico annexed. 
1847— Battles of Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo and 
City of Mexico. Salt Lake City founded by the 
Mormons. 
1848— Mexican War closed. Discovery of gold in California. 
1851— Henry Clay died. 
1852— Uncle Tom's Cabin published. 
1854— Treaty between the United States and Japan. 
1858— First Atlantic telegraph completed. Minnesota admitted. 



1859— John Brown's insurrection and execution. 

1860— South Carolina secedes. Oil discovered in Pennsylvania. 
Prince of Wales visits United States. 

1861— Great Civil War begins. Confederates fire on Ft. Sumter. 
April 12. Battles of Rich ^Mountain, Bull Run, Wil- 
son's Creek and Martinsburg. The Trent affair. 

1862— Principal battles, Mill Springs, Ft. Henry, Roanoke 
Island, Ft. Donaldson, Pea Ridge, of Monitor and 
Merrimac, Winchester, Pittsburg Landing, Island No. 
10, New Orleans, Seven Pines, Fair Oaks, Gaines' 
Mill, Peach Orchard, ^Malvern Hill, Cedar Mountain, 
Rappahannock, second battle of Bull Run, South 
Moimtain, Antietam, Corinth and Fredericksburg. 
West Virginia admitte'd. 

1863— Principle battles, Murfreesboro, Port Gibson, Chancel- 
lorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg and Chickamauga. 
Emancipation proclamation goes into effect. 

1804— Principal battles, Resaca, Dalton, Piedmont, Petersburg, 
Atlanta, Nashville and Kearsarge and Alabama. Far- 
ragut's victory at Mobile. 

1865— Battles before Richmond. Lee's surrender to Grant. As- 
sassmation of Lincoln. Ending of the war. 

1866— Atlantic cable completed. 

1867— Nebraska admitted. Alaska bought from Russia. 

1869— Pacific railroad completed. 

1870— Fifteenth Amendment ratified. Death of Admiral Farra- 
gut and Robert E. Lee. 

1871— Great Chicago fire. 

1872— The United States removes the political disabilities of 
the Southern people. Boston fire. Death of Horace 
Greeley. Edison perfected the electric light. 

1873— Financial panic. 

1875— Specie Payment Resumption Act passed. 

1876— Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. Custer Massacre. 
Colorado admitted. 

1877— Great railroad riots. Invention of the telephone. 

1879 — Resumption of specie payments. 

1881— Assassination of Garfield. 

1883— Great East River Bridge between Brooklyn and New 
York opened. 

1884— Death of General Grant. 

1885— Pan-American Exposition at New Orleans. 



ISSG-Haymarket riot in Chicago. President Cleyeland mar- 
ried. Deatli of ex-President Artliur, Samuel J. Til- 
den, John A. Logan and John B. Gough. 

1887-Death of Henry Ward Beeeher. Great raih-oad wreck at 

.coo .. ^^^^t^^^^^^th, 111. Execution of Chicago anarchists. 

16««— Death of Roscoe Conklin and Philip H. Sheridan 

i«orf r^ ^''^^^^' ^''''^^ ^^^^*^ ^^ Washington admitted. 
1890-International copyright a law. McKinley Tariff Bill 

passed, September 30. 
1891-Death of Historian George Bancroft, Admiral Daniel 

1COQ . ^'''^^'' ^^""^'^^ ^^°'- ^' Sli^rman and P. T. Barnum. 

1893-American protectorate established over Hawaii. Death 
of ex-President Hayes and James G. Blaine. World's 
Fair at Chicago. Great financial panic. 

1895-Insurrection in Cuba, began February 5. ' 

1896— Great tornado at St. Louis, May 27. 

1897— Greater New York charter signed 

1898-Battleship Maine blown up in Havana harbor, February 
15. Spanish-American War. Dewey's victory at Ma- 
nila May 1. The United States takes possession of 
the Ladrone Islands. Battles of Seville, El Caney and 
San Juan. Spanish fleet destroyed at Santiago de 
Cuba, July 3. Hawaiian Islands annexed. Peace 
Protocol signed. 

1899-January 1 Spain relinquishes control of Cuba and evacu- 
ates Havana. Senate ratifies Peace Treaty, February 
6. President issues proclamation of peace, April 11 

1900 w^^ n ^r?'''' ^'"""^ ^* ^^^ ^^^^^^^' Pl^iliPPine Islands. 

1900-Wm. Goebel, of Kentucky, assassinated, January 30 
Gold Standard Bill signed, March 14. John Sherman 
died, October 22. Great tornado at Galveston, Tex 
September 8, destroyed 7,000 lives and .?30,000,000 in 
property. 

1901-Advent of twentieth century, January 1. Benjamin 
Harrison died, March 13. Pan-American Exposition at 
Buffalo. President McKinley shot by anarchist Leon 
Czolgoz at Buffalo, September 6; died September 14. 
Isthmian Canal Treaty between the United States 
^^^* Britain signed, November 8 

1902-LegisIation in Congress for government of Philippine 

.il?*J- /•'''!! ?^ ""^'^"^ ^^""'^ ^f P^-^s^^^' on a mis- 
sion of friendship. 



APR 17 1902 



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